KINGDOMS IN CONFLICT

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Claude Manning
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1 This sermon was preached at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Cherry Log, Georgia Sunday, June 2, 2013, by Pastor Paul Mims. KINGDOMS IN CONFLICT Acts 19: 8-41 One of the most famous lines of the 19th century naturalist Henry David Thoreau was, "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." Commenting on Thoreau s defense of his personal oddities, Bible teacher H.A. Ironside said, "The Christian may well say this. If our inner ears have been attuned to the music of the heavens, we hear the drumbeat of the skies. Therefore, we must of very necessity seem to the world to be out of step with all that goes on down here which is contrary to the Holy Spirit who dwells within us." Jesus said, My Kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36) He also said, If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then shall his kingdom stand? Two kingdoms, two lords over those kingdoms, a conflict that will not end until Our Lord puts a stop to it. We are living in the midst of that raging conflict and it is tearing families, businesses, governments, and even churches apart. Today, we are going to look at how the gospel conflicted with the pagan world of the first century and be reminded that it is no different today. The writer of Acts, Dr. Luke, gives great attention to the first two missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul. But his description of the third journey is given in just forty one verses in chapter 19. In the Spring of A.D. 52, Paul returns from a visit to his sponsoring church in Antioch in Syria to Ephesus to plant himself there for almost three years to establish a strong Christian witness in this great city. Ephesus was pagan at its very core. They boasted that they had one of the seven wonders of the world there which was the Temple of the goddess, Diana. It was believed that her many breasted image was

2 made in heaven and fell from the sky. She was believed to be the daughter of Zeus and Leto. She was looked upon and worshipped as a protector of wild life and as a goddess of fertility. The first temple to her was destroyed in 356 B.C. on the night that Alexander the Great was born. This temple was replaced with one much more magnificent and was the banking center for the commercial interest which blended religion and finance. They were proud that from Ephesus the worship of Diana had spread through the Greek world and beyond. This new temple was four times larger than the Parthenon in Athens and was supported by 127 columns, each of them sixty feet high. The worship ceremonies were carried out by priests who were eunuchs and priestesses who were virgins. Each year, there was an annual festival on May 25 th where many statues of the goddess were carried to the amphitheater that could seat 25,000. The celebration included music, dancing, and drama. One of the main businesses was headed up by a man named Demetrius, who made silver statues of the goddess which were sold widely throughout the Greek world. Luke gives us three mental pictures from Paul s ministry in Ephesus. I. A PICTURE OF PAUL PREACHING IN THE SYNAGOGUE AND LECTURE HALL (vv.8-10). There was also a Jewish Synagogue in Ephesus. Paul always began in the synagogues to try to reach his own Jewish people for Christ. And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. Then the conflict begins. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of THE WAY before the congregation Christianity was called THE WAY at this time. Jesus had said, I am the way, the truth and the life. Members of the synagogue began to say what Jews have been saying for two thousand years in denying that Jesus is the Christ. This is the conflict that had stalked Paul everywhere he went.

3 Wikipedia gives this modern explanation. Judaism generally views Jesus as one of a number of false messiahs who have appeared throughout history. Jesus is viewed as having been the most influential, and consequently the most damaging, of all false messiahs. However, since the mainstream Jewish belief is that the Messiah has not yet come and that the Messianic Age is not yet present, the total rejection of Jesus as either messiah or deity in Judaism has never been a central issue for Judaism. At the heart of Judaism are the Torah, its commandments, the Tanakh, and ethical monotheism such as in the Shema all of which predated Jesus. Judaism has never accepted any of the claimed fulfillments of prophecy that Christianity attributes to Jesus. Judaism also forbids the worship of a person as a form of idolatry, since the central belief of Judaism is the absolute unity and singularity of God. Jewish eschatology holds that the coming of the Messiah will be associated with a specific series of events that have not yet occurred, including the return of Jews to their homeland and the rebuilding of The Temple, a Messianic Age of peace and understanding during which "the knowledge of God" fills the earth, and since Jews believe that none of these events occurred during the lifetime of Jesus (nor have they occurred afterwards, except for the return of many Jews to their homeland in Israel), he is not a candidate for messiah. Paul withdrew from the synagogue and secured the Hall of Tyrannus where he continued daily for two years. This was so effective that word of his preaching spread so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. The Kingdom conflict grows with II. A PICTURE OF MIRACLES AND MAGIC (vv ). To confirm that Paul was indeed his messenger, God wrought special miracles through Paul. They were miracles of the healing of the sick so

4 that two cloth articles that Paul used, the sweat band and worker s apron, were carried to the sick and they were healed of their diseases. Physical healing was used by Jesus in his earthly ministry to get the attention of the people and confirm that he really was who he claimed to be. In this pagan culture God used supernatural healings to show his power through Paul. Also, those who were possessed by demonic spirits were set free. These were miracles of truth. There are always the counter-actions of Satan s kingdom. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. The victories won over the evil forces caused Jesus to be exalted so that many came to believe in him. They confessed the error of their ways of magic and brought their books and burned them in the sight of all. The value of the destroyed magical arts was fifty thousand pieces of silver. The result was that the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. There are true miracles of healing and exorcism today. There are also the hucksters who try to emulate the same. There are always the gullible who fall prey to them. It takes a discerning spirit to see the difference. Paul did not create the miracles. God did it according to his own providence. The fallacy today is that healers proclaim, Today, we are going to have a mighty healing service. Their mantra is, If you have enough faith it can happen to you. God will give miracles when it is in his providence to do so for his purpose and glory. We can ask for a miracle, but we may not always get it. Some of the greatest people of faith and commitment to our Lord have had to endure illnesses all of

5 their lives. When the Holy Spirit is leading us to claim healing either through a process or through an instant miracle, we can know that it will be for the furtherance of the Gospel and for our well-being. The third mental picture that Dr. Luke paints is III. A PICTURE OF THE RIOT IN THE AMPITHEATER (vv.21-41). It was the month of May, the time of the celebration that Ephesus was the temple keeper for the worship of Diana across the Greek world. It was a month long celebration to honor the goddess Diana. Here the Kingdoms of God and of Satan came into strong conflict. Picture the amphitheater with 25,000 people celebrating their goddess. A local businessman addresses the crowd and says, Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. He was referring to the making of silver shrines to Diana. Any you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship. When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! It is hard to imagine a greater conflict between the gospel and a pagan culture. Demetrius admitted that Paul had been successful and that the gospel was spreading throughout the area of Galatian Asia. The three missionary journeys had laid the foundation for the seven churches that the Apostle John addresses in Revelation 2 3: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Today, we see the same Kingdoms in conflict in our own nation. You can see it in the government, in the economy, in sports, in education, in

6 the media, in social movements, and in the terrorism that we have suffered as a nation. But what will be the final outcome? Which kingdom will prevail? The answer can be found in the Old Testament Prophet Daniel s writings. His vision tells us how the Lord revealed it to him. Look in chapter 7 and verse 9: As I looked, thrones were placed and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment and the books were opened. Verse 13: I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. Verse 27: And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them. And finally as the Apostle John saw it: Revelation 11:15: The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Of which Kingdom are you a citizen? If you know Christ as Messiah, Lord, Savior, Redeemer, and King of Kings, you are a part of the Kingdom of heaven, the Kingdom of God. PRAISE BE TO HIS NAME!

12. Acts 18:19-20:3. Ephesus

12. Acts 18:19-20:3. Ephesus 12. Acts 18:19-20:3 Ephesus Acts 18:19-23 and 19:1 When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila there, but first he himself went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews. When